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Overheating/Shutdown?

Discussion in 'PC hardware help' started by Shado36, Jan 11, 2007.

  1. Shado36

    Shado36 Guest

    My wife's pc has been acting stragely recently. She has just updated her processor/motherboard. This seemed to cause the power supply to go 'south' (pc would not switch on or anything) so a new power supply was installed (430w) that we were led to believe would solve the problem. The new pc has two cooling fans and an extra fan was also fitted below the power supply to help air flow. All seemed ok until my wife was burning a dvd this morning and the pc just 'shut off'. On investiagtion I found that it still was powered up but there was nothing on screen, I rebooted and as far as I can tell all is well. It has just done the same thing again, but what I do observe is that on the o/s of the case where the power supply is there does seem to be a 'reasonable' amount of heat coming through the case? The pc is enclosed but not at the back and there is a door on the front. She is running XP pro with a P4 3.4ghz & a Biostar P4M80-M4 motherboard (has a 478/FSB 800mhz,AGP 8X,DDR 400), anyone got any ideas as to whats going on?
     
  2. kateman

    kateman Regular member

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    chip may be fried

    Have you checked that the cooling fan is running, and not obstructed by cables or other cards?

    also did you modify the computer's hardware yourself?
     
  3. Shado36

    Shado36 Guest

    It was all installed by the man who initially built the pc so we have to assume that he knows what he is doing etc. He also installed a new motherboard/cpu/fan in mine and has also re-cased it (a while ago). My wife spoke to him yesterday and he said that he thought that it needed a better cpu fan, which has now been ordered and should arrive in the next few days. I am unable to say if the cpu fan is working as we cannot get it to even power up again at the moment, it did this before and we put a new p/s in which cured the problem.
     
  4. Morph416

    Morph416 Active member

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    It sounds like when the person who did the part swap, may have inadvertently grounded something. Either the CPU, or the motherboard. Not that hard to do really, all ya have to do is not pay attention when seating the CPU into the socket and bend one of the pins. As for grounding the motherboard, if the screws which hold it to the back plate are not centered, or if any of them are missing...this could also cause a short. Which in most instances, would take out the PSU.

    The fans that come with retail CPUs are more enough for everyday use. Only those that overclock the CPU should invest in a better cooling fan or go to water cooling. But...two other things that can cause overheating or a short, would be if the person that put on the fan used too much heatsink grease. After seating the fan on top and securing it, the grease will ooze over the side making contact with the motherboard. Not applying the grease properly (or in some cases you forget to remove the protective film on the heatsink) will cause the CPU to overheat.

    If you keep replacing power supplies, and they keep failing on you...it's more than likely going to be a short somewhere in the system. This will require removal of the CPU/motherboard...and to carefully clean it up, apply the proper amount of thermal paste (one drop is good enough) and reseat them back into the case.
     
  5. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

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    moved to correct forum. also check the can shaped objects on the motherboard which are capacitors that they are flat topped, not domed & are not leaking a brownish red stuff.
     
  6. Shado36

    Shado36 Guest

    Well...........the "plot thickens". Got the pc back on Tuesday with another new power supply and a new cpu fan/cooler. Its a Cooler Master Hyper 48 (KHC-L91) which is what's installed on my pc and runs fine without any problems.Its has copper stacking fins & a 92mm fan as well as four heat pipes to enhace thermal connectivity. It was working fine until this morning when it just "switched off" and will not come back on! History suggests that the power supply is "burnt out" again it was a 450w supply. I have a 530w in my pc and have had no problems like her (but I do not "push mine as hard"), anyone any ideas as to why this is happening?
     

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